


Coordinated

by Multiple_Universes



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 05:08:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9476990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multiple_Universes/pseuds/Multiple_Universes
Summary: The Sixth Doctor, Evelyn and Frobisher celebrate Christmas.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfiction was written for the Classic Who and Doctor Who EU Secret Santa exchange on Tumblr (and originally posted there).

When a penguin showed up at Evelyn’s door she didn’t even bat an eyelid. She knew immediately what that meant.

“Is the Doctor in trouble?”

“No, in this case he _is_ the trouble.”

“I’ll get my coat and you can tell me on the way,” she said, stepping back inside and opening her closet. She rummaged inside it until she found the one she was looking for.

“You don’t really need to hurry,” the penguin said.

“You should have told me earlier, otherwise I would have offered you tea.”

The penguin gave a sigh. “Name’s Frobisher, by the way.”

“Evelyn Smythe. Nice to meet you.” She locked the door and pocketed her key. “Am I correct if I assume that you’re from another planet?”

“Quick on the uptake, aren’t you?”

Evelyn was about to say something when she saw the blue police box on the other side of the street. She smiled and headed straight for it.

“Ah! Not that way!” Frobisher protested, rushing after her.

“Why not? I used to travel with the Doctor, you know.”

“Yes, but… um… Look, he told me to find you and not to bother him for a while.”

“Why ever not?”

“How should I know? I think he said something about Christmas, but I couldn’t hear him very well through the TARDIS doors.”

“In that case we might as well get some Christmas shopping done.”

“Lead the way.”

Evelyn hesitated. “How do you want me to explain –”

Frobisher’s shape blurred and changed. To Evelyn’s great amazement a young dark-haired man in a fedora hat and trench coat stood before her.

“How did you do that?”

“I’m a shape shifter. What do ya think?” He turned around on the spot.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you stepped right out of a spy film.”

“Hey! I happen to like this look!”

“It suits you.” She shrugged. “If anyone asks we can always say you just returned from a costume party.”

It wasn’t far to the shops and the walk was pleasant. Several shops later they had come up with a plan for their shopping without exchanging a single word about it.

When they returned loaded down with purchases they paused for a moment outside the TARDIS and continued onwards to Evelyn’s house. Evelyn busied herself in the kitchen for a while, making things with Frobisher’s help and then they started to decorate the house. Frobisher stuck to the outer perimeter of the room, leaving Evelyn to decorate the tree.

The doorbell rang. Frobisher let Evelyn answer the door. He’d resumed his penguin shape earlier and didn’t want to change again.

A young red-haired woman stood in the doorway.

“Melanie! Come on in!”

“Hello, Evelyn!” She stepped into the house, removing her coat. “What is that lovely smell? Oh! Hello Frobisher!”

“Hello, Mel! How are ya, kid?”

Mel laughed. “Same as always. The Doctor didn’t tell me I was coming for Christmas.”

“Typical Doctor.” Evelyn took Mel’s coat. “You can help us with the decorations while we wait for him.”

Mel stepped into the living room and burst out laughing. “That’s wonderful!”

She picked up a box when there was another knock on the door.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it.” Evelyn opened the door and stepped back. “Doctor! Just in time!”

The Doctor barged into the house nearly hitting the door. “The TARDIS is sulking again!”

“Oh, great!” Frobisher rolled his eyes. “What did ya do, Doc?”

“I didn’t do anything!” The Doctor protested, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room.

“I know that look,” Evelyn said, closing the door.

Mel nodded. “Me too. What did you do, Doctor?”

“I tried to cross my own time stream.”

“Why would you do a reckless thing like that?”

The Doctor flopped into a chair. “If you must know, I wanted to get Peri so she could join us.”

There was an awkward silence after those words.

“I almost forgot about the cake!” Evelyn rushed into the kitchen, taking care to avoid the half-decorated Christmas tree.

“Doctor, can you help me decorate the tree?” Mel asked, holding out a box full of ornaments.

“Of course,” The Doctor rose from his seat and took the box from her absent-mindedly.

Evelyn returned from the kitchen and went to the big table on the other side of the room to clear it. Frobisher resumed decorating the walls of the room. It wasn’t easy using flippers to hang strings of lights and he ended up changing the ends of the flippers into hands. No one seemed to notice.

The Doctor was decorating the tree without really looking at what he was doing. Most of the ornaments ended up too close to each other. Evelyn, Mel and Frobisher exchanged a look. It was getting really hard to hold in the laughter.

“What?” The Doctor’s head turned back and forth, trying to figure out what was so funny. He looked at the ornament in his hand. A small plastic nutcracker stared back at him. It looked ordinary enough. Then he saw the tree properly for the first time. “Oh, most amusing!” He exclaimed. He tried to purse his lips angrily, but couldn’t keep a straight face for long and joined in the laughter.

Half of the decorations on the tree were made of bits of different material as if someone had taken his patchwork coat, cut it up with scissors and then glued the bits together in different shapes. Some of the decorations only had one of the colours from his coat, but the overall effect was as if he’d draped his coat over the Christmas tree.

“Alright! Alright!” He exclaimed after the laughter had died down. “I’m going to get Peri.” He paused in the doorway, as if he’d forgotten something. “I won’t be long.”

 

And much later they had a Christmas dinner all together. The Doctor brought more guests and Evelyn’s family joined them as well. Peri had made a face at the tree at first, but insisted on taking a photo of the Doctor with it afterwards. They stayed up late into the night, eating, drinking and exchanging presents.

Evelyn and Frobisher found a corner to themselves. She handed him a box which he unwrapped. “I knitted it for the Doctor,” she said as he pulled a red scarf out, “but then I remembered that he already had one, so I thought you might need it.”

“Thanks, but I _am_ a penguin.”

“Not all of the time.”

He laughed. She wrapped it around his neck. “How do I look?”

“Very charming.”


End file.
